Machine-to-machine (M2M) communications describes a vision for connecting and managing billions of everyday objects to offer a diverse and rich set of services. Some examples include smart-grid applications, tracking and tracing applications, such as video surveillance, fleet tracking, connected consumer electronics, telemedicine, and so on. A vast array of M2M applications may be served by wireless wide area networks (WWANs) and/or wide area cellular networks, posing new and challenging requirements. Two aspects of these challenges are supporting the massive device connectivity and supporting the often conflicting and diverse set of requirements imposed by each M2M application. For a large number of M2M applications, communication with devices is often infrequent and at low data rates. Examples of these types of M2M applications are control, sensing, and monitoring of environmental sensors. Given the massive number of M2M devices that must be supported, it may be helpful for the “small-burst” transmissions to and from these M2M devices in the downlink to be transmitted efficiently and with minimal overhead.
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